Knightfall at the Baxter Building
by BlackPan1her
Summary: Doctor Doom employs some new 'talent' to rid himself of his arch-nemesis Mr. Fantastic and his team. But is this all the Doctor Doom has in store for them?...


Knightfall at the Baxter Building

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as the second shift guards at Arkham Asylum left their posts and were replaced by the night shift guards. Through the pane glass on the rooftop, a full moon rose above Gotham's most notorious criminals. An officer just starting his shift for the night was overlooking some papers when his walkie-talkie beeped. "Hey, Murphy, there's a guest here." The officer picked up the devise and said, "What do you mean, it's 5 hours past visiting hours!" The officer on the other line replied, "This guy won't leave. He says he's royalty or something…" Officer Murphy called over his partner. "Hey Jones, come over here, I don't know what to say to him."

Officer Jones walked towards his partner, and as Murphy was still sorting through some papers on the desk, Jones pulled out his gun and shot him right in the heart. As the innocent man suffered through his last breath, the traitorous officer simply whispered into Murphy's ear two words: "Heil Doom."

A few of the criminals woke up hearing the gunshot. The Joker quickly clung to his cell door and shouted, "It looks like someone finally had the gull to rescue me from this hellhole!" Joker starting laughing uncontrollably, until Officer Jones pointed his pistol toward his cell door and said, "Who said this was for you?"

The man holding the gun took off his security jacket. Most of the inmates who had witnessed the murder were shocked when the 'officer' took off his own face and revealed itself as a robot. The robot walked towards the desk, where the other officer was calling in, desperate for orders to get of the guest at the door. The robot mimicked the dead officer's voice and told him to let the man in.

Back at the entrance, after hearing the orders, the security guard at the door still wouldn't let the mystery man in. The man raised his hand towards the guard's chest and shot what appeared to be a bolt of lightning at the guard. The mystery man came out of the shadows, and said to himself, "Some people will never show me the respect I deserve."

The man, now revealed as none other than Doctor Doom, arrived at the main holding room of the asylum. "Doom Bot number 623, have you checked to see if the men I require are here?" Doom asked. "Yes, your Majesty. Right this way," replied the Doom Bot.

As the Doctor and his robot passed the Joker's cell, the Joker reached out and grabbed Doom's arm. "What about me, tin man? You can't have a party without little old me…" the Joker laughed. Doctor Doom quickly freed himself from Joker's grasp and said, "I have read much about you, Joker. You are too unstable for what I wish to accomplish." Doom continued past Joker's cell, and Joker sulked back into his bed and shouted out at Doom, "You're a stick in the mud just like the Bat! Nobody gets my jokes anymore…"

Doctor Doom then approached the cell door of Victor Freeze. He shot out several more bolts of lightning from his hands and destroyed the cell door with relative ease. Mr. Freeze slowly walked towards his freedom and looked at the man who had freed him. "Your mask, it is intriguing… chilling even. And whom do I thank for the escape?" Doom looked Freeze's eyes and said, "Mister Freeze, you may call me Doom. Doctor Doom. And I have hand-picked you, and you talents, for something of what most people would call 'revenge'. I call it…'karma'."

"And what if I say, no, Mister Doom?"

"Then you would miss out on the biggest payday of your life."

"You should realize, if you truly know so much about me, that I do not accept cash."

"My country mines the best diamonds in the world, Mister Freeze. You shall have enough to live a life of a god."

"Count me in."

Doom then would free three other criminals: The Quakemaster, Clayface, and Firefly. He then came across a cell door at the end of the hall. Next to the dented and battered door, a sign read, "Bane. DO NOT OPEN."

Doom once again shot out a bolt of lightning and broke down the door, but this time, he went inside the cell and ordered his Doom Bot to stand guard.

Inside, Bane was quiet as a church mouse, reading a book in his bed. The explosion did not phase him, and neither did Doctor Doom walking towards him. "So you are the one they call Bane," Doom said. Bane peered over the pages of his book and softly replied, "That depends, what do you want with me?"

"I have a job for you. One that only a man like yourself can accomplish."

"Flattery will get you nowhere."

"Unlike the men you have worked for in the past, I provide you with something more than what money can provide. What would you say if I told you that I could offer you the greatest test of your strength that you will ever receive, and by passing it, would make you a god among men?"

Bane set his book aside and looked up at Doom. "I would say," as Bane said as he stood up, "that I accept."

**One Week Later**

Sue Richards and Ben Grimm, their respective aliases as Invisible Woman and The Thing, were relaxing in their living room inside the Baxter Building. From the huge windows circling the room, you could see most of New York City skyline perfectly on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. "Hey, Ben, where's Reed?" Sue said. "Where do ya think? In his lab, he said it's somethin' that'll change the world," Ben replied. "When it not world-changing?" Sue said under her breath, rolling her eyes.

On the ground level, Quakemaster and Firefly were walking along an alley across the street from the Baxter Building, wearing large overcoats to conceal their costumes. They crossed the street and entered the building, but were quickly met by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents at the entrance. An agent told the men to take off their coats, and instead, the two villains threw off their coats at the agent and Firefly quickly drew his wrist blaster and shot down the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who rushed toward the metal detectors near the door. Quakemaster took out a pistol out and shot the surrounding security cameras, then knocked out the first agent they encountered with the hilt of the gun. Once the room was cleared, Firefly set a disc-like devise down on the ground. The devise beamed up a hologram image of Doctor Doom. The hologram said, "Gentlemen, you know what to do. The schematics of the Baxter Building we have gone over should help you find the places where you are needed with relative ease. Do not fail me…" Just then, three Doombots walked through the door. The Doom hologram then said, "These are for you, Mr. Coleman. They are for cover fire in case you are met by any S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the basement. And Firefly… Remember that you not to make your position known. No exceptions."

The hologram shut off, and Firefly put the disc back into his pocket. He flew off while Quakemaster found the door that led to the sub-basement levels of the building, with the Doombots following him.

"That's weird," Sue said. "What is it, Sue?" Ben replied. "There was a small blip on the surveillance for a second, and now no one is answering… I'm going downstairs to check this out." Sue then walked to the elevator to go down to the ground level, but as she reached the panel to select the floor to travel to, there was a small tremor that was felt throughout the building. "I think I'll take the stairs," Sue thought, slightly concerned. Ben went back to finish his lunch, thinking to himself,"_Haha_. _Every time Reed goes into his lab, the whole building has to shake._" He laughed it off, when all of a sudden another tremor shook the building, an even larger one than the first. "Ok, that one was not Reed," Ben said to himself, "That was from the street, maybe I should warm Reed that there's an earthquake…"

Before Ben finished his thought, Reed Richards, known around the world as Mister Fantastic, stretched into the living room and said, "I felt that tremor from my lab, and it has walls two feet thick. The sensors around the building would have gone off if it was an actual earthquake. This one is artificial, and even controlled…"

Sue reached the ground level and saw several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents lying on the ground. She contacted her brother Johnny Storm, who was a few blocks away having lunch at a corner bistro with a date. "Johnny, someone's broken into the Baxter Building, I'm going to see what's wrong, but I want you to warn Reed and Ben, my commlink is spotty for some reason." On the other line, Johnny pouted and replied, "But it took me six months to schedule a lunch with Ms. February…"

"NOW, Johnny. Get here as soon as possible."

Above the Baxter Building, a Latverian cloaked ship was hovering over the skyscraper. Bane, Victor Freeze, and Clayface were standing near the exit of the ship. Bane was the only one not wearing a parachute. Doctor Doom was abroad the ship, and rehashed the mission plan to the three villains. "And remember, if you engage Sue Richards, immobilize her, but make sure to keep her alive. The others can die…," Doom looked at Bane and finished his sentence, "Painfully." Bane smiled and said, "Of course, Mister Doom. They will suffer… and they will be broken."

The three villains then dived out the aircraft and onto the roof of the Baxter Building, with Bane sizing up and crashing towards the ground without a scratch. Johnny Storm was flying towards the Baxter Building and noticed the men on the roof. "Hey!" he shouted at them, "Who are you?"

Bane looked at Johnny and recognized him from Doom's battle plans. Bane turned to Mr. Freeze and said, "Hey look, Victor. Your primary target, coming straight for you. You couldn't have an easier job." "I'm going to enjoy this," Freeze said as he cocked his ice cannon. As Johnny reached the roof, Bane and Clayface fled into a stairwell door that led into the rest of the building. "Hello, allow me to break the ice, Mr. Storm." Mr. Freeze said. "My name is Freeze. Learn it well, as it the chilling sound of your doom…"

As Reed was still studying the outdoor sensors from his laptop back at the living room, three more tremors shook the building more. "Ever since the Mole Man tried to sink this building below the surface, I reinforced this place with a state-of-the-art pillar support system. Don't worry, the Baxter Building won't collapse from these tremors."

Bane and Clayface burst through the living room door, surprising Reed and Ben. "As a fellow intellectual, I beg to differ, Mr. Richards." Bane said. "At this very moment, my friend Mr. Coleman is breaking down the beams that support this ridiculous structure. Unfortunately, you will both die before your symbol of power, your greatest creation, is demolished and turned to ruins. You may address me as Bane. And this is my friend Mr. Bennett, but you may address him as Clayface. We have been hired to kill you both. And the only reason I'm telling you this is that people seem to have comfort in knowing the men who killed them"

The Thing obviously wasn't amused. "You son of a-"Before Thing finished his sentence, Bane pressed a button on his wrist module and suddenly his muscles grew three times their size and he socked the Thing in the jaw with a massive punch. "You lack discipline, Mr. Grimm. Allow me to instruct you…" Bane prepared to stomp on Thing's chest with all of his might, but Reed Richards stretched out his arm and grabbed Bane's leg and pulled it, knocking Bane down. As Bane got back up, he ordered Clayface to kill him. Clayface morphed his body and leaped at Mr. Fantastic, and the two elastic beings engaged in combat.

While Bane, Clayface, and Mr. Freeze were occupied with their primary targets, Quakemaster was struggling to open the final door that reached the basement of the Baxter Building. He kicked the door hard in anger, setting off an alarm. As he cursed under his breath, a few SHIELD agents came running towards his position. Quakemaster ordered two of the Doombots to stand behind him and shoot at anything that came close, and he ordered the remaining one to break the door down. "Some things almost aren't worth the money…" he said to himself.

Firefly, meanwhile, was having the best luck of all the villains. He had successfully reached Reed Richard's lab, and after a few minutes exited carrying a flash drive, then flew out a nearby window, muttering to himself, "I wonder how the others are doing…"

Bane almost seemed like he was enjoying himself as he charged into the Thing, knocking them both through a wall and sending them into the adjacent room. Bane picked up a table and threw it at Thing. Thing swatted the table away and charged at him, both fists clenched and starting clobbering Bane with jabs and uppercuts. Bane deflected a blow at his ribs and wrenched the Thing's arm, sending Ben down on one knee. "You have spirit, Mr. Grimm. Too bad I have to break it." Bane wrenched his arm some more as Thing desperately tried to release Bane's grip. Thing found a knife from a broken cupboard on the ground and shoved it into Bane's leg. Bane jumped back slightly and pulled out the knife with little effort, but it gave Ben Grimm enough time to recover and charge into Bane, bulldozing Bane through two other rooms and eventually through the floor, sending them crashing down several levels in the building. They exchanged punches as they fell, and eventually both hit the 15th floor the Baxter Building with thunderous impact. Bane recovered faster than Ben and mounted on top of him, pounding him with shot after shot to the temple. Thing deflected one of his punches and kneed him in the ribs, causing Bane to stagger off of him. Recovering, Bane simply said, "My turn…"

Meanwhile, Reed was trying to figure out a way to neutralize Clayface. He remembered he kept a canister of liquid nitrogen somewhere in the kitchen, but first he had to lead Clayface to it. He stretched his body outward and traveled to the kitchen, and just as he reached the canister, Clayface grabbed Mr. Fantastic's ankle and pulled him close and socked him in jaw and started pummeling his body with huge blows to the ribs with his misshapen fists. Reed retracted his upper body towards Clayface and finally got a shot in to douse him with the liquid nitrogen. Once Clayface was immobilized, Reed grabbed a support beam that had fallen from the ceiling and swung it at the downed villain, shattering him into thousands of pieces. "By the time he can solidify himself and put himself back together, I should hopefully have this situation under control. Now to see where Ben is…" Reed ran towards where he ;ast saw Bane and the Thing, and saw the destruction they caused. He stretched out his neck and found the massive hole in the floor that lead down to the 15th floor. Quickly, Reed converted his body into a ball and dropped down the hole to help his friend.

"I am causing a commotion but I still can't bring this building to the ground!" Quakemaster said in anger. "My specially engineered jackhammer should be more than enough to destroy this gaudy skyscraper. But at least the best part is I don't have to worry about collateral damage…" Quakemaster took his jackhammer and shoved into a corner and set the devise to max. The tremor even shook the basement slightly and the pillar supports were starting to fail. "Now we're getting somewhere!" he said.

"Drop the jackhammer," Sue Storm said as she appeared behind him. Turning around, Quakemaster said, "So… you are that Invisible Girl, aren't ya?" "Girl?!" Sue angrily replied as she knocked him down with authority with a force field. Startled, Quakemaster got up and ordered the Doombots to attack. Sue made quick work of the Doombots, creating force fields inside their heads and expanding them to the point where they exploded. "Now," Sue said, slightly calmer, "If you don't want to end up like them, you'll stop what you're doing and tell me who sent you." Quakemaster wouldn't talk, and he picked up his jackhammer and swung it at Sue. Sue put up a force field in front of her, and Quakemaster directed his jackhammer at the force field, still set on maximum damage. Sue could barely keep the force field up much longer, and quickly she reacted by causing the Quakemaster's lenses of his eyes to become invisible. Quakemaster screamed in agony and dropped to his knees on the floor, dropping his jackhammer. Sue kicked the devise to the side and placed a force field around his hands like a pair of handcuffs. She let Quakemaster see again and gave him a roundhouse kick to the face. "I wanted to make sure you saw THAT coming," Sue said to the defeated Quakemaster, who lain quivering on the floor.

"You're a little hotheaded, Mr. Storm. I think you should CHILL!" Mr. Freeze said as he tried to shoot down the Human Torch, who was dodging Freeze's shots with his ice cannon. Human Torch flew in close and punched Freeze in the face and said with a certain swagger to his voice, "Clearly, whoever hired you forgot to tell you I bring the fire!" Freeze rubbed his jaw and said under his breath, "I thought I was the one with bad puns…" Johnny Storm threw a few fireballs at Freeze's feet and prepared for fire blast, but Freeze saw an opportunity and shot his cannon at Johnny's left leg, freezing it on contact. Johnny fell to the rooftop and Mr. Freeze prepped his cannon to freeze Human Torch solid. Freeze shot out a continuous stream of intense cold, and Johnny, without a second thought, protected himself by combating the freeze ray with a fire barrier of sorts. Mr. Freeze started pacing closer with the cannon still firing at Johnny and said, "You cannot win, Mr. Storm. Right now, my friends are taking down your team, and soon we shall bring this entire place down and reduce it to rubble! Chilling, isn't it?" Johnny knew he couldn't quit, and he fired up to the point that his leg started thawing, and eventually he started to get up. He threw a fireball at Freeze's head, causing the villain to take his finger off the trigger. Johnny was still exhausted from the toll of the freeze ray and fell to the floor. Freeze was about to fire his ice cannon at a downed Storm, when a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter started shooting at him. Freeze quickly shot his ice cannon at the helicopter, causing it to fall out of the sky. Freeze laughed to himself for a second, and when he opened his eyes again, Johnny Storm was right in front of him. Johnny created a fireball in his fist and punched him in the face and said, "I still some fight left in me, Freeze. Flame On!"

Back on the 15th floor, Mr. Fantastic saw Bane and Thing still brawling and, still morphed into a ball, bounced towards the two and bopped Bane on the head, and ricocheted off a nearby wall to hit Bane in the ribs. Before Reed could ricochet off another wall, Bane grabbed Reed and stetched him out and flung him into a wall. Ben ran into Bane and yelled, "Hey! Don't mess with my friend!" and unrelentingly started hitting him in the stomach, with Bane reacting by kicking Ben in the thigh and kneeing him in the heart. Mr. Fantastic recovered off the floor, stretching out his arms and wrapping them around Bane's hands. Thing saw the opportunity and clobbered Bane some more, until Bane dodged one of his punches and kicked Thing in the stomach. Thing staggered back and Bane prepared to ram into him when Reed stretched out his arms again and wrapped them around Bane's feet, causing the brute to fall to the ground. Then the Thing elbowed him in the back of the neck. Bane reacted immediately and started checking to see if the tube on the back of his neck had been damaged. Reed noticed that the tube fed directly into his brain and told Thin that the tube should be what he should be aiming for. Thin nodded his head and bent down to try and pull out the tube, but Bane was one step ahead and elbowed Ben in the knee and quickly got up hitting Ben in the jaw and ribs. However, Bane didn't notice Reed quietly stretching his arm out towards the tube. Reed quickly yanked out the tube and yelled to Ben that they have their opening. Ben and Reed noticed the room they were in had a window that took up an entire wall, and they both had the same idea in mind. "Rebound off the ropes, buddy?" Thing said. "I couldn't make a better plan myself," Reed said as he took both his body and stretched it across the width of the room. Thing used Reed as a rope in a wrestling ring, and as Bane staggered to his feet feeling weak, Thing charged into him at incredible speed, rebounding off a recoiled Reed. "Get out of my house, you son of a bitch!" Ben yelled as they both crashed through the huge glass window. Ben remained on top of Bane as they both plummeted to the floor. Ben looked down at Bane and noticed he was unconscious, buried in the cement and only the size of a regular man. Reed looked down and saw the scene. He said to himself, "Whatever that was that Bane had feeding into his brain was the source of his power. I've never seen such an obvious weak spot…" Reed then shouted down at Ben and asked if he was alright. Ben yelled up that he was as several cop cars, ambulances, and S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles rushing down the street towards the Baxter Building. One of the SHIELD trucks stopped in front of the Thing, and Agent Maria Hill stepped out of the truck. "Oh, well, you got here just in time!" Ben said sarcastically.

"We would have been here sooner, but our communications were jammed to the point that we were crippled for a while. I'm guessing the men who you were fighting…" Maria Hill paused herself and looked down at Bane, and the crater he left in the concrete, and finished, "fought… and whoever hired them is responsible for this. Whoever did this thought of everything…"

Thing suddenly heard a familiar shout and looked straight up in the sky. It was Johnny, who was flying in front of the Baxter Building shooting fireballs at Freeze. "I'm going to finish this, you walking popsicle!" Johnny said as he concentrated his energy and went supernova. The flames around him were as hot as ever, and he focused one jet of flames directly at Freeze. The blast would have killed Freeze if he wasn't wearing his cybernetic suit, but he was nonetheless defeated. After unleashing his devastation, Johnny suddenly passed out from exhaustion and fell to the ground. Thinking fast, Ben waited for the right moment and jumped as high as he could to meet Johnny in the air, pick him up, and safely land on the ground.

Ben put Johnny down and Reed joined them on the street, stretching his feet down to the ground and recoiling the rest of his body down with them. A SHIELD helicopter went to the roof to apprehend Victor Freeze when Sue Storm walked through the front door, dragging Quakemaster by his collar. Reed ran to Sue and embraced her, and said, "Thank god you're alright… Who is he?" Reed pointed to the unconscious villain. Sue replied, "The only one who would be able to tell us why they're here." Sue created a force field around Quakemaster's head and, almost dying from lack of oxygen, Quakemaster awoke, trembling from the agony. Sue lifted the force field and grabbed him by the collar. Thing turned to Reed and said under his breath, "Sue's making us look bad…" Reed simply smiled as Sue continued. "Okay, now you're back with the living, tell us why you are here and who sent you, otherwise what I've already done to you will seem pale in comparison."

Quakemaster shook his head violently and exclaimed, 'OKAY! OKAY, I'LL TELL YOU! … We were hired by Doctor-"

Before he finished what he was about to say, his entire body froze and he was electrocuted. He barely made a sound as he collapsed to the floor. "I think the person who hired him didn't want him to spill the beans, huh? Like a contingency plan?" Johnny stated. Reed replied, "I don't to hear the rest, I think I know who did it. And if I'm right, that wasn't his only contingency plan…"

Firefly cautiously flew through the New York City skyline and reached Doctor Doom's cloaked plane. Once he came aboard, Doom approached him and asked him if his mission was successful. Firefly said it was and gave him the flash drive. Doom didn't take his eyes off the flash drive he grasped in his hands as he said to Firefly, "Excellent. On this flash drive is everything on Reed's computers. Now the playing field is level! I can show the world what kind of monstrosities Reed Richards is willing to unleash on this planet for the 'greater good'. Well done, Mr. Carson. " Firefly was slightly confused and asked, "So this was your real plan all along? The other guys were simply distractions?" "In a way," Doom replied, "However, I would've been happier if those fools had taken down one or two of them in the process. But THIS," Doom clenched the flash drive, "is what I wanted most."

Firefly asked if the money was in his account, and threatened to rat on Doom if he didn't 'get what was coming to him'. Doom looked at his with disdain and said, "I am extremely disappointed with you," as he motioned to his Doombots, who restrained Firefly and took him at the back of the ship, where he would stay until the plane reached Latveria. There, he would be thrown in the dungeon.

Doom then sat in his seat aboard the front of the plane and simply smiled. He knew that a certain extent of victory was his on this day.


End file.
